Articles

This is not goodbye Well that isn’t what I expected to happen… If you were paying attention to the AST board of directors election which took place during CAST 2016 in Vancouver, you likely noticed I was not re-elected to the board. Even though I am no longer on the board, as of this October, this is not a goodbye …

DeepSpec Workshop Review In January, I read a few press releases describing a NSF grant (the same group that originally funded development of our BBST class series) describing a research project running between four universities — Princeton, Yale, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania. The news claimed the DeepSpec research project will open the doors to the possibility of completely bug …

AST Grants Committee Report So far this year, the AST Grants Committee has approved three grants. The grants so far cover a peer conference, an unconference, and a meetup, further proving AST grants are not constrained to a particular type of event. For more information on one of these events, the Joburg Software Testers Meetup, we turn to an experience …

AST Volunteer Spotlight: Aleksandar Simic We’re proud to introduce a new feature, the Volunteer Spotlight. We wanted to shine some light on all of the people who work behind the scenes at AST, how much they help our organization, what they do for AST, and why they do it. AST runs on volunteers who are investing their time and energy …

AST Grant Program, GRTesters Experience Report Grand Rapids Testers (GRTesters), a testing meetup group in Grand Rapids, Michigan, received a grant in 2013 to help cover the costs of Meetup.com. In 2015, GRTesters received another grant to help with those costs. An average of 12 to 25 testers, developers and others involved in software meet monthly to discuss topics in and …

AST Grant Program, KWST 2015 KWST has become part of the mainstay of the testing world Down Under. And just like the previous years the two days spent focussing on all things testing was a blast! Many attendees said it was the best yet. This year’s content owner was James Bach with “Defining and Defending the Role of Testing”. For the Wellington and NZ …

New Executive Committee for 2015-2016 Following the Elections for the Board of Directors, as per the AST Bylaws, the Board met to elect members to the Executive Committee. The members will assume their new Executive Committee in October at the next full Board of Directors Meeting. They are: President – Justin Rohrman Vice-President – Ale Moreira Treasurer – Eric Proegler Secretary – Roxane Jackson Executive at …

Board of Directors Election Results The elections are now over and we have three new Directors joining the Board in October. Nominated for the Board were: Alex Bantz Eric Proegler Ilari Henrik Aegerter Jeffrey Woodard Michael Corum Roxane Jackson After counting the votes, the following candidates were elected: Eric Proegler Ilari Henrik Aegerter Roxane Jackson Thank you to Alex, Jeff and Michael for running. We look forward to you continuing the volunteer …

2015-2016 Board of Directors Elections The nomination period for the 2014-2015 Board of Directors is officially closed. Thank you to those who provided nominations. There are three open spots on the board this year and these are the candidates: Alex Bantz Eric Proegler Ilari Henrik Aegerter Jeffrey Woodard Michael Corum Roxane Jackson AST members will be voting electronically from August 2nd at 12:00 am (GMT) through August …

Why CAST? Thoughts from the Conference Chair for CAST 2015 Why CAST? It is a good question. I was asked that by a manager I had several years ago and it is still relevant. For the last 13 months, I have been working on the preparations for CAST 2015. I’ve organized two day music events for 800 of our closest friends. I’ve been part of the organization …

Lesson Learned Leading Context Driven Testers by Alex Bantz and Jeffrey Woodard Having experienced context driven testers as part of your team can be a lot like having a highly intelligent child. We expect that both you and your testers are adults, but the relationship dynamics are similar. Even though you are their leader/manager, you must be willing to accept that they …

Host City Challenge and Discount Want to go to CAST and sad that you missed the Early Bird deadline? Here’s a chance to get a special discount! Successfully answer the questions in the Grand Rapids Trivia Challenge and you’ll get a promotion code at the end of the challenge to save $150 off your CAST 2015 registration! Register by July 12 for the …

CAST Beer Testing Tour Grand Rapids has been featured in several beer magazines and was named “Beer City” for the number an quality of the breweries that call the city home. It only seems reasonable then to make arrangements for people visiting Grand Rapids for CAST to visit some of these establishments. Monday evening, after the tutorials and before the …

Countdown to CAST Space is limited! Last year, CAST hit capacity at 250 participants and sold out. This year seats are going fast! Don’t miss out, reserve your seat at CAST 2015 now. UPDATE: Two tutorials are sold out. There are still seats for two, but they are limited. If you want a tutorial act quickly! Learn more here » Hotel Rooms CAST …

Testing Webinar: Driving While Driven: The Way of the Skilled Tester AST is pleased to announce a webinar on software testing with James Bach on Context-Driven Testing. This is a presentation about taking responsibility for your testing. The first step is to gently put aside your parents’ rules. The Context-Driven School of testing means each tester is his own methodologist. We do testing by tools and means …

What can you do in Grand Rapids when not at CAST? Good question! When downtown in Grand Rapids, you are 30 minutes from Lake Michigan, one of the five Great Lakes – the fresh water inland seas that sandy beaches and fishing for trout, salmon and other sport fish. You can tour the Grand River itself. The Grand Lady Riverboat has regular cruises of around two hours …

What Does AST Mean to You? When I accepted the role of President of AST in August of 2014, it came from being involved in the details of what we do as the Treasurer and as the Chair of the Education Special Interest Group (now the Education Committee). In those roles, I had two main focuses; keep the education initiatives moving, …

CAST 2015: Tutorials Announced & Early Bird Registration is Open We are excited to announce the pre-conference Tutorials for AST’s tenth annual conference, CAST 2015. This year’s tutorials are offered by practitioners, thought leaders, and experts in testing to address a variety of social, organizational, scientific and technical skills needed by test professionals and their leaders. Join us this summer for our tenth annual conference in downtown Grand …

Speak Easy and CAST 2015 We are pleased to announce that we are pairing with Speak Easy, a program developed by Anne-Marie Charrett and Fiona Charles, to foster, mentor and encourage experienced professionals who are new to speaking at conferences and other public events. With an impressive pool of mentors to draw on, Speak Easy participants will find their voice, define …

CAST Is Turning TEN YEARS OLD and We’re Throwing a Party! We’re having a party at this year’s CAST – the Conference of the Association for Software Testing. Games and Cake and Friends and learning and growing. Much has changed since our first CAST and the Association for Software Testing is excited about putting on our best Conference ever! CAST prides itself on being a conference where …

Tips For a Good CAST 2015 Proposal Tips For a Good CAST 2015 Proposal By Justin Rohrman The CFP for CAST 2015 is in full swing now. We’ve been getting proposals, but as the end gets closer that trickle will turn into a flood. Below are a few thoughts for you to consider before you submit your proposal. These are some of the things …

WHOSE Update: Workshop on Self-Education in Software Testing by Justin Rohrman Twelve months ago, the first Workshop on Self-Education in Software Testing (WHOSE) took place in West Lake, Ohio just outside of Cleveland. This was an AST Event, the goal of which was to produce a list of skills that were important for software testers. The principles of the Context Driven Testing school immediately …

CAST 2015 – Call for Participation Call for Participation We invite you to share your stories, thoughts, observations, and demonstrations surrounding your experiences about Moving Testing Forward with your fellow testers at CAST 2015. We are seeking abstracts and proposals in line with the conference theme for either a presentation of up to 40 minutes, with 20 minutes of discussion time, OR a …

CAST 2015: Save the Date August 3-5 The Association for Software Testing is pleased to announce its tenth annual conference, CAST 2015 “Moving Testing Forward,” to be held in Grand Rapids, Michigan, August 3-5. Since our first CAST we have seen dramatic changes in the nature of communications and the nature of delivery, from PC to client/server to the web and web services. …